I love sports so every so often I would like to share my thoughts , especially on the local sports scene...
EAGLES- A big reason for the Eagles surprising start is because they haven"t turned the ball over even once in 3 games. No short field for the opposition..no easy scores, whereas the Birds have forced turnovers..The defense is scary-good too, rushing the passer, making QBs rush, stopping the run. The offense is controlling the ball, unlike the Chip Kelly years, so the defense is fresh and able to T-off as the game goes on.
Kudos to new coach Doug Pederson for his varied formations, his aggressive play-calling and his common sense ( again, unlike Chip Kelly). Much of what Coach Pederson is doing so far is what we expected from Kelly, especially the innovated offensive schemes. Coach Pederson is also so refreshing in his news conferences. No one-word answers ( ala Andy Reid) or smart-ass answers (ala Kelly). Ok, everything is going great so far, so maybe when Pederson faces adversity his attitude may change? I don"t think so. He seems like a nice guy and he has endeared himself to the media by being patient and enjoying a mutual respect.
The Eagles had full contact thru-out training camp, something not all teams were doing. Kelly would not allow his players to hit during camp. Critics feared players would get hurt or wear down from contact before the season started. However I think we are seeing the fruits of Pederson"s training camp. Whereas alot of teams miss multiple tackles and just aren"t physical enough, the Birds look crisp, even late in games.
Finally, we all know that Carson Wentz, Coach Pederson and his assistants (especially Defensive Coodinator Schwartz) GM Howie Roseman and, of course, the players have restored excitement and hope back to Philadelphia football, but let"s not forget to acknowledge owner Jeffrey Lurie. He saw that Chip Kelly wasn"t going to work out and instead of waiting for Chip"s contract to expire Lurie pulled the plug early, hence speeding up the rebuilding process. Everyone piles on the owner when he does screw-up..I"m giving him alot of well-deserved credit for acknowledging the problem and putting th e right people in place to finally do the job right.
PHILLIES- The Phils were as expected this season-improved, but a long way to go to be contenders. I would have liked to see more prospects move up to Philly late in the season..Nick Williams, J.P.Crawford, etc..Hopefully they will make the team out of spring training. As of now, we still don"t know if they can play. There is a log-jam between Lehigh Valley and Reading. The Philliies organization needs to find out what they have before they can sign free agents or make trades.
So far I"m not crazy about GM Matt Klentak. I get what he is trying to do, and I would rather he remain patient then make crazy trades or signing high-priced older free agents to long-term contracts. But I also hope he does get a little more aggressive, especially in moving players thru the system. Last July he failed to make a single move before the trade deadline. During the amateur draft last June he was hard to reach for a while, seemingly not able to focus on the draft and keep the fans informed at the same time.He is still young and inexperienced, so I"ll give him a chance .
The free agent market isn"t that great this off-season, so I"m ok if the Phils lay low. One free agent worth going after- for a 1 year contract- is Oriole LF Mark Trumbo, He has power-he hit 47 home runs for Baltimore this year..imagine what he could do at Citizens Bank Park. He would give the Phils a much-needed power bat in the outfield. Yes, he strikes out a ton, and Phillies hitters need to make more contact, but he would be the big slugger in the middle of the line-up for at least a year. He"s still only 40, and GM Klentak knows him well when they were together with the Angels.
Thank you Ryan Howard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really like Manager Pete Mackanin. He may not always make the best in-game baseball moves, but he is honest and seems to be good with the payers, especially the young guys. Hopefully the team progresses next year- an 81-81 record would be nice...I would hate to see Pete go because the team still doesn"t have the ammo to compete...I"m leery that Aaron Nola will be able to pitch next season.My gut feeling is resting his strained right elbow won"t work and surgery will be required, which means we won"t see Nola until 2018 I hope I"m wrong.
FLYERS -I"m excited that the two promising rookies Ivan, Provorov and Travis Konecny may make the team The Flyers are doing what the Phillies should be doing- slowly bringing up the promising kids. See what they can do!! However, I am concerned that the Flers still don"t have enough scoring. Too many low scoring games last year, which eventually haunted the team in the playoffs vs Washingtom. And I"m still not sure who the #1 goalie will be...if they even have one. The Flyers were terrible the last few years in shoot-out games. Like it or not, shoot-outs are a part of hockey and the Flyers need to address that situation.
SIXERS- Is it bad karma from all the tanking years that the Sixers #1 pick, Ben Simmons, broke his foot in training camp and will be sidelined for 3 months? I"m still looking forward to watching the team play this year, and Simmons will be back in time.But you have to remember-this is still a rebuilding year. Maybe not full-fledged tanking like we are used to, but the Sixers have tons of money to spend on free agents after this season and those coveted draft picks.Better times are ahead!
OUT OF THE CITY- I"m not a Baltimore Orioles or New York Mets fan (I hate the Mets and their obnoxious fans), but I have to agree that a 1 game wild card playoff is stupid. a team plays 162 games a year only for the season to come down to one game? Unfair. Think of it this way: Baltimore made the playoffs yet they dont even get one post-season home game. Almost as dumb as having the winner of the All-Star game determine who gets home-field advantage in the World Series..
My NFL picks this week are the Eagles -3 over the Lions and the Steelers -7 over the Jets..
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